Abbott seeks OK for Biaxin vs. anthrax

Bruce Japsen, Tribune Staff ReporterCHICAGO TRIBUNE

Abbott Laboratories said Friday that it is working to get its widely-used antibiotic Biaxin approved as a treatment for anthrax.

A study of several antibiotics unveiled Friday by researchers for the Department of Defense showed that Abbott's Biaxin killed anthrax bacteria in test tubes. Federal regulators are evaluating whether Biaxin and other drugs should be put on a short list of drugs to treat and prevent anthrax .

Should Biaxin win U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval, Abbott said the antibiotic will then be given to the government free of charge, if requested, for the treatment of anthrax. Abbott generates more than $1 billion in worldwide sales of Biaxin.

"This isn't about making money; it's about saving lives," said Dave Goffredo, Abbott's senior vice president of pharmaceutical operations. "With some of these products, there is tight supply, so we are trying to help out wherever we can." Currently, Bayer AG's Cipro is the only antibiotic approved by the government to treat and prevent the deadly anthrax from inhaled spores, making the drug the best-known brand-name prescription in America.

Bayer recently cut the price of Cipro sales to the government to less than $1 a tablet from $1.83.

Next week, FDA regulators have meetings scheduled with Abbott and other drugmakers to decide the steps they need to win approval of their antibiotics in the treatment of anthrax. It remains unclear when other drugs will be approved for such use, but the process is expected to be speeded up.

The Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta earlier this week identified Biaxin and nine other antibiotics as active against currently identified strains of Anthrax.

"From the point of view of treating patients, it is definitely good to have more than one drug," said Dr. Itzhak Brook, a Georgetown University infectious disease specialist who has been studying the effectiveness of Biaxin and several other antibiotics against anthrax for the defense department.

In test tubes, anthrax is "susceptible" to Biaxin, Brook said, but he wouldn't say whether Abbott's drug was as good or better than Cipro.

"It's hard to say if [Biaxin] is as effective or less effective because each drug is different," Brook said. "If it works well in a test tube, it usually works in patients as well, but you always need to confirm it."

Meanwhile, Abbott said the company is working with federal regulators to study whether Biaxin and other pharmaceuticals are effective against other potentially hazardous biological agents used by terrorists.